One of the city's road-sweepers seems to be leading a content, self-sufficiant life until it all comes to an abrupt end one morning when he finds a box during his rounds. Beneath a layer of cigarettes it contains 300.000 Deutschmarks, and a photograph of his boss in a comprimising position with the lady head of a company applying for civic contracts. Sigi and a friend, a Sicilian junk-dealer, tumble into an apparently never-ending series of pursuits, misunderstandings and blackmail attempts - for the head of his departement and the lady concerned do everything they can to get the money and the photograph back.